56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

 

Okay, so officially I read to 40%, skimmed to 75% and then read to the end, because I could feel myself becoming really annoyed with this book and I wanted to find out what happened but I didn't want to have to wade through all the padding to do it. 56 DAYS has the bones of a really good story and there were parts of it I liked. It opens up with what appears to be a murder at an apartment complex. We don't know who-- or why.

Flash back in time (56 days ago) to the meeting of Ciara and Oliver. They chat at a grocery store and end up going on first one date, then many, before ultimately moving in together. We see their relationship progress in the past interspersed with the SLOWEST PROCEDURAL SCENES I HAVE EVER READ in the present. These parts are all padding and they are a chore to read. I wanted to find out what happened between Ciara and Oliver, but I didn't want to read 300+ pages to get there. I feel like this would have been a stronger book without the padding and I wonder if maybe an editor or someone told this author that no, her book needed to be longer. That person was a fool.

I wasn't all that satisfied with the ending or the big "twist." I will say that I went into this book expecting one thing and it ended up being another, and I'm not really sure I liked that "another" thing it turned out to be. Catherine Ryan Howard is not a bad writer and her descriptions of Dublin made me ache to go back and visit Ireland (after COVID, of course), but this book wasn't it.

2 out of 5 stars